Thursday, December 13, 2012

The D&D fantasy world that later grew into the World of Mystara, originally referred to as the D&D Game World, or simply the Known World first appeared in the module X1 The Isle of Dread (1981) by Tom Moldvay and David "Zeb" Cook. It has for a long time been rumoured that Tom Moldvay (1948 – 2007) based the setting on elements from his own campaign. However, over at the Mystara Facebook Group, James Mishler just reported the following:

Tuesday, December 4, 2012

With the
death of King Uhlmar, the Elven Nation fell into chaos. The elves of the Wood
Realms of the West followed Ceridrone , the Black Queen, the daughter that
Uhlmar had cursed for her betrayal. The eastern elves, known now as the Cumasti
split into factions, arguing among themselves. The Elder Council could not
agree on which direction they should take, leaving each of the eastern Wood
Realms to fend for itself.

In the
largest of the Cumasti Wood Realms, the Redwoods, leadership fell upon the
shoulders of Comelar Ithamis. The Council of Elders said that although Comelar was the eldest son of
Uhlmar, they would not accept his claim to be king of all elves before he could
produce Uhlmar’s Crown. Unfortunately
the Crown had disappeared during the time of duress following the former King’s
death. Because of this there were even
those among the Cumasti who would not accept Comelar’s rulership. The Goss Clan
was especially noted for their desire for independence.

Comelar was
an unusual young elf with an openness towards the world reminiscent of his father
in his younger days. He carried the sword Woodhold, and some said that he
sometimes talked to the blade. In spite of his strange ways, the elves of the
Redwoods were loyal to Lord Comelar.

With the
divisions among the elves and the increasing number of humans arriving in the
North, as well as the appearance of a new race in the North, that the humans
called Dwarves, Comelar did not sit idly by. While he was denied command of the
Elven Nation, he began to consolidate what power he had, building up the
defenses of the Redwoods. He founded an order known as the Gen’Ri, whose
mission was to gather information on the races that lived outside the woods.

The
information the Gen’Ri brought back was terrifying. The Goss Clan which had
opposed Comelar’s leadership had managed to place one prince in Mithgiliwyr as
ruler of their woodland realm, while his half brother Raddan had managed to
claim the throne of Blackmoor. Raddan’s hunger for arcane power drove him into
becoming a leading force in the Mage Wars. When his brother refused to join his
side, Raddan destroyed Mithgilliwyr’s Woodrealm, turning it into the Blood
Woods. With these arcane wars raging on, the Cumasti Wood Realms again looked
to Comelar for leadership. Gradually they began to recognize him as Lord of the
Cumasti.

Seeing that
the threats from the outside world could not be ignored, Comelar secretly
supported the Archmage Skelfer. With the end of the Mage Wars, Comelar made
renewed contact with the Thonians, although he was in no way interested in
making the Wizards Cabal welcome in his own lands. Skelfer accepted this, given
the aid Comelar had given to the Archmage during the time of strife. Upon
Comelar’s death, his son, Menander, continued to expand the contact with the
Thonians. Menander Ithamis would often walk among humans in disguise, learning
of their ways through personal
experience as well as from the information provided to him by the Gen’Ri.

The first
real intervention of Menander’s forces into Thonian lands was after the Egg of
Coot had invaded and occupied Blackmoor Town. Only through the aid of
Menander’s Army were the heroes of Blackmoor able to drive the Egg out.
Menander recognized the dangers of the Egg as too great for one race to stand
against alone and continued his efforts to work with the other races, finding
allies among Humans, Halflings and even the Dwarves.

***

Notes:

In previous material, I named Uhlmar's son Noris, but later realized that Menander's father had been named in the D20 Dave Arneson's Blackmoor Sourcebook.

The Gen'Ri and Mithgilivyr Goss were introduced in The Blackmoor Player's Guide.

Monday, December 3, 2012

Over at the Comeback Inn Forum, we have been releasing Season 3 of Blackmoor the MMRPG this autumn. Now, only a few episodes are left and we plan to release them all in time for Christmans. Season 3 marks the last of these freebie adventure modules which are easy to use with any edition. They are released with the expressed permission of Zeitgeist Games.

Season 3 Fake Tribute cover by Havard

So, stay tuned with us over at The Comeback Inn and make sure that you download these final MMRPG episodes as they are released in the weeks ahead.